Report: Bioware censors same-sex forum topics

Aharon Etengoff, 2nd February 2010

Bioware has reportedly closed a number of forum threads discussing same-sex romances in games such as Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins.

"There are a bunch of gay and gay-friendly gamers who are posting topics about why male/male romances (because, of course, they have female/female) were deliberately left absent from [Mass Effect 2] who are finding that moderators are taking a tad too much liberty with their ability to close topics," an unnamed reader told Ars Technia.

"Nearly every thread about the issue has been closed for the most minute reasons, even so far as going to say that the discussion of same-sex romances in the general forums is considered spoiler material."

Destructoid's Jim Sterling responded to the above-mentioned report by noting that Bioware had a long history of censoring LGBT discussion on its boards.

"Of course, it's totally BioWare's right to lock away any discussion it deems unsavory, but is it wise to sweep aside a considerable portion of your audience, especially after making somewhat half-hearted gestures of inclusion in your videogames?" wrote Sterling.

"I respect BioWare for at least attempting to inject some form of gay appeal in its games, but these uncommitted, stumbling attempts at inclusion full of half-measures are confusing some fans, and the unwillingness to discuss it in an open forum doesn't exactly help."